SCRIP is a partner with the Kiski-Conemaugh Stream Team, which coordinates the activity of volunteers who do water quality sampling on a routine basis at the priority stream locations and abandoned mine drainage sites in our waters.

The Stream Team monitors streams throughout the broader Kiski-Conemaugh watershed, which includes our area. The Stream Team was formed in 1998 by the Kiski-Conemaugh River Basin Alliance, a coalition of eight watershed and conservation groups, including SCRIP, Conemaugh Valley Conservancy, Blacklick Creek Watershed Association, Loyalhanna Watershed Association and Roaring Run Watershed Association. 

The K-C Stream Team evolved from the need for an organization that focused upon basin-wide water quality assessment and educational outreach.

The need was identified in the Kiski-Conemaugh Rivers Conservation Plan written within the guidelines of the Rivers Conservation Program of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR).

The K-C Stream Team is a volunteer based program that is responsible for conducting water quality monitoring at numerous streams within the Kiski-Conemaugh River Basin.

  At left, Bob Ritchey shows
  Stream Team Volunteers how
  to check water chemistry.

In addition, an educational outreach/public awareness program based on the water quality monitoring is provided through a newsletter, a symposium, informational publications, its "Sources and Solutions" program and this website.

In 2000, the K-C Stream Team received the Pennsylvania Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence in Outreach and Education. In 2002, the K-C Stream Team, in partnership with the Conemaugh Valley Conservancy, was the recipient of the Pennsylvania Governor's Award for Watershed Stewardship in the partnership category.